The Splendid and Spacey World of Star Wars Posters

Futurist and conceptual designer Ralph McQuarrie helped develop the look of the original trilogy, and this 1975 treatment for an early Star Wars poster is a rare look at what could have been. (Expand the gallery to fullscreen for more detail.)

This 1979 black-and-white concept treatment for The Empire Strikes Back theatrical painting became known as the “Gone With The Wind” poster. (The original GWTW poster was one of George Lucas' favorites.)

John Alvin, a movie poster master, gave Threepio and Artoo a musical makeover for this 1978 Star Wars in Concert promotional poster.

Drew Struzan's 10th-anniversary poster. This wasn't for 20th Century Fox, but rather for independent poster company Killian Enterprises.

Fantasy art demigod Boris Vallejo created a special Empire Strikes Back poster for a Coca-Cola/Burger King promotion. (Where's your messiah now, nerds?)

We know what you're thinking: "Sure, this book sounds cool, but does it have a poster for the German version of the 1985 TV movie Ewoks: The Battle of Endor?" Well, check.

A Japanese poster for The Phantom Menace that utilizes Kia Asamiya's original manga art for Tentomushi Comics.

Digital artwork for a poster promoting 2003 videogame Knights of the Old Republic.

You just knewMondo would be in here somewhere. Chewie takes a stand on Endor in Rich Kelly's limited-edition screen print Attack Position.

The cover of the book, which hits stores Oct. 14.

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The Splendid and Spacey World of Star Wars Posters

Futurist and conceptual designer Ralph McQuarrie helped develop the look of the original trilogy, and this 1975 treatment for an early Star Wars poster is a rare look at what could have been. (Expand the gallery to fullscreen for more detail.)

This 1979 black-and-white concept treatment for The Empire Strikes Back theatrical painting became known as the “Gone With The Wind” poster. (The original GWTW poster was one of George Lucas' favorites.)

John Alvin, a movie poster master, gave Threepio and Artoo a musical makeover for this 1978 Star Wars in Concert promotional poster.

Drew Struzan's 10th-anniversary poster. This wasn't for 20th Century Fox, but rather for independent poster company Killian Enterprises.

Fantasy art demigod Boris Vallejo created a special Empire Strikes Back poster for a Coca-Cola/Burger King promotion. (Where's your messiah now, nerds?)

We know what you're thinking: "Sure, this book sounds cool, but does it have a poster for the German version of the 1985 TV movie Ewoks: The Battle of Endor?" Well, check.

A Japanese poster for The Phantom Menace that utilizes Kia Asamiya's original manga art for Tentomushi Comics.

Digital artwork for a poster promoting 2003 videogame Knights of the Old Republic.

You just knewMondo would be in here somewhere. Chewie takes a stand on Endor in Rich Kelly's limited-edition screen print Attack Position.

The cover of the book, which hits stores Oct. 14.

There are art books that are full of history, pages crammed full of minutia and biography to give you as much context as possible. And then there are the art books that are full of sumptuous, jaw-dropping visuals. After all, these books imagine, you already know the background—why not dispense with the niceties and get on with the art?

We'll give you one guess which one Star Wars Posters is.

The book, out Oct. 14 on Abrams, is a feast for the senses. (OK, maybe just one sense.) Its 120 four-color illustrations range from A New Hope pre-release concept posters to promotional artwork for the new Disney XD show Star Wars Rebels, and everything in between. The fundamentals are there, thankfully; all six of Drew Struzan's official studio posters appear, alongside the work of fellow poster-art titans like Tom Jung and John Alvin. But it's not all so narrowly conventional: there are Mondo prints and videogame covers, cartoon posters and independent one-offs, Japanese one-sheets and German promotionals. It's just about every Star Wars-related poster you can imagine—which means a lot more than there were in 1985, when Killian's famed "poster of posters" came out.

Talking about it, of course, isn't as much fun as looking at it. So while there are still two weeks until the book comes out—and nearly as long until Star Wars Reads Day on Oct. 11—we thought we'd give you a sneak peek now. Say goodbye to your morning.